Warfare in News

Posted on Tuesday 8th November

The Olympic torch is to visit the Second World War codebreaking centre Bletchley Park next year during its 70-day relay around the the British Isles before the London Games.

The relay will start from Land's End, Cornwall on 19 May and is due to arrive at Bletchley Park on 9 July, before completing its journey at the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony on 27 July.

A programme of events has been drawn up by the Bletchley Park directors which will be revealed closer to the time. Simon Greenish, a director at Bletchley Park, told BBC News :

'The Olympic Torch will arrive on 9 July and it an absolutely fabulous event because Bletchley Park is so important to the nation. Important work went on here in World War ll and people are beginning to realise that it was the beginning of the communications age.'

Further Reading

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Hitler's Olympics

(Hardback - 224 pages)
by Anton Rippon

For two weeks in August 1936, Nazi Germany achieved an astonishing propaganda coup when it staged the Olympic Games in Berlin. Hiding their anti-Semitism and plans for territorial expansion, the Nazis exploited the Olympic ideal, dazzling visiting spectators and journalists alike with an image of a tolerant country. Thousands of foreigners went away wondering why the Hitler regime had been vilified, unaware that not far from the stunning Olympic Stadium lay a concentration camp full… Read more...

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Dates in History

WWI Spring Offensive - The Kaiser's Battle

21st March 1918

At 9.30am on 21st March 1918, the last great battle of the First World War commenced when three German armies struck a massive blow against the weak divisions of the British Third and Fifth Armies. It was the first day of what the Germans called the Kaiserschlacht ('the Kaiser's Battle'), the series of attacks that were intended to break the deadlock on the Western Front, knock the British Army out of the war, and finally bring victory to Germany. In the event the actual cost of the gamble was so heavy that once the assault faltered, it remained for the Allies to push the exhausted German armies back and the War was at last over.

Further Reading

At 9.30am on 21 March 1918, the last great battle of the First World War commenced when three German armies struck a massive blow against the weak divisions of the British Third and Fifth Armies. It was the first day of what the Germans called the Kaiserschlacht (‘the Kaiser’s Battle’),… Read more at Pen & Sword...